Tag: Ben Hutchings

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics: COMIC-FEST

Prior to the emergence of one of the larger comics and entertainment media conventions in Australia Supanova Pop Culture Expo the same management team, led by Daniel Zachariou, staged an event called Comic-Fest. This had a mostly comics oriented focus compared with the subsequent broader span of Supanova in which comics represents just one of several entertainment media that included films, television series, toys, trading cards, computer games and the internet. There were two stagings in 2001, at Fox Studios in February then followed in September by Comi-Fest 2 at the Sydney Centrepont Convention Centre.

Trevor Bovis in space, the Greener Pastures program cover, designed by Tim McEwen.

Saturday seminar details with my involvement in the superheroes panel.

The Comic-Fest panel line-up, L to R, Dillon Naylor, Daniel Gloag, Amber Carvan and Ben Hutchings.

For the September event, withsupport from the event director, Daniel Zachariou, I organised a panel discussion on Australian alternative comics by local creators Dillon Naylor, Daniel Gloag, Amber Carvan and Ben Hutchings who each talked about their own comics and answered my questions. A general discussion of the Australian comics scene followed.

Another shot of the panel, L to R, Gloag, Carvan and Hutchings.

Aside from the panel discussion the big attraction for the local small press was the opportunity to set up shop and trade their work on the commercial floor along with the imported comics. There was also the opportunity to meet fellow local creators and exchange comics, contact details and curry recipes.

On the trading floor, Louise Graber and Alex Major.

Also trading, Daniel McKeown with Alex Major.

Along with the commercial trading there was the social attraction of meeting and chatting with fellow comics creators and sharing ideas and production experiences.

Two funny blokes and cartoonists, Ross Tesoriero and Ben Hutchings.

Did you go to COMIC-FEST? What did you think? Would you like to add a comment about your impression of that event on this Blog post? I would be happy to hear, Michael.

This is the eleventh in a series of posts called Archives of Australian Comics History that document moments in the recent history of Australian comics, particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s and it eventually led to my PhD thesis: Ph.D. Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000 With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003. On completion of the research I donated the materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia: Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics: 2ND SEQUENTIAL ART STUDIES CONFERENCE

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics, Comics, Japanning May 1, 2013

It was ten years ago that the second Sequential Art Studies Conference took place at the University of Technology, Sydney. At the time, minicomics, having blossomed throughout the 1990s, were making an impression on the local alternative comics scene. The event was billed as A Mini Conference on Minicomics and featured presentations by comics creators as well as scholars. The conference was convened by Spiros Tsaousis (now Spiros Xenos) and I. It was a sequel to our previous and first Sequential Art Studies conference held in Sydney in 2002. That was the first comics conference held in Australia. It was also staged in association with Supanova Pop Culture Expo again. Included in the event was a minicomics market.

CALL FOR PAPERS: 2nd Sequential Art Studies Conference May 23, 2003, Sydney. The Interdisciplinary Studies Unit of the Faculty of Design at UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) http://www.uts.edu.au will again host this new scholarly conference that will be held during the same week as the Sydney Writers’ Festival. The inaugural event in 2002 attracted a small but stimulating range of papers from local academics and students. It is hoped that this year’s event will build on that. Scholars are invited to submit 250 word proposals which address alternative approaches to comics, whether local or global, recent or historical, online or offline, artistic or commercial. The conference will adopt an interdisciplinary approach and so welcomes papers from a broad range of areas. Send proposals by email to either of the conference convenors and coordinators by February 28, 2003: Michael.Hill@uts.edu.au Spiros.Tsaousis@bigpond.com

CONFERENCE PROGRAM: Scholarly Papers

4.00pm Opening of Conference and Welcome by Assoc. Professor Steve Harfield Assoc. Dean of Research Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building University of Technology, Sydney

4.05pm The Sydney Morning Hell of Glenn Smith, Dr. Michael Hill, Interdisciplinary Studies Unit, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building University of Technology, Sydney

4.30pm Fear and yearning of “manga Japan” in Australia, Craig Norris, School of Communication, Design and Media, University of Western Sydney

4.55pm Taming the ‘Superhuman’ Shrew: Identification with Superheroes in Comics and the Popularisation of the Human Potential Ethic, Adam Possamaï, School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney

5.20pm The Problem of The Yellow Kid: From Single Panels to Sequential Images, Spiros Tsaousis, La Trobe University

_{Craig Norris, University of Western Sydney.}

_{Adam Possamaï, University of Western Sydney}

CONFERENCE PROGRAM: Artist Presentations

6.00pm Alex Major (Naomi and Poggie)

6.20pm Komala Singh (Moshi Moshi)

6.40pm Bernard Caleo (Big Cardigan Comics)

7.00pm Katarina Knebel (Cult Fiction Comics)

7.20pm Ben Hutchings (Geeen Comix)

7.40pm David McDermott (Glitter Shy)

Bernard Caleo proclaimed his comics manifesto and promoted Tango. — _{Bernard Caleo ‘performed’ his comics manifesto…brilliantly!..and promoted his own comic Tango.}

Komala Singh talking about Moshi Moshi. — _{Komala Singh talked about her minicomic Moshi Moshi.}

David McDermott goes Glitter Shy. — _{David McDermott goes Glitter Shy and playfully ‘performed’ some of his pages live to projected images of the panels.}

_{Chloe Lyttle introducing David Maccad.}

Ben Hutchings going Geeen! — _{Ben Hutchings had fun going Geeen!}

_{Katarina Knebel talks Cult Fiction Comics.}

Alex Major describes Naomi and Poggie. — _{Alex Major describes his minicomic Naomi and Poggie.}

Minicomics market at the conferece. — _{Minicomics market at the conference.}

This conference about MINICOMICS as a form of sequential art was a sequel to the first comics conference in 2002…the first comics conference held in Australia I think! Did you attend? If so would you like to add a comment about the proceedings? Please do! I would love to hear, Michael.

This is the tenth in a series of posts called Archives of Australian Comics History. These document moments in the recent history of Australian comics, particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s and it eventually led to my PhD thesis. That degree was awarded to me as follows: Ph.D. Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy…A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000 With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003.

On completion of my research I donated the materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia, as: Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.

Archive of Australian Comics History: DOWN UNDER GROUND

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics, Art, Comics February 13, 2013

Underground comics are the subject of this post…in particular Australian alternative comics. I start with a review of an exhibition that Glenn Smith curated at the Orange Regional Gallery, in N.S.W. in 2005. The exhibition was titled The Ink Runs Deep Down, Down Underground. I wrote an essay titled “Art From The Inkubator” for inclusion in the exhibition catalogue.

The Ink Runs Deep...exhibition catalogue. (Design by Glenn Smith) — _{The Ink Runs Deep...exhibition catalogue. (Art & Design by Glenn Smith)}

The successive waves of Australian alternative comics produced since the 1980s often feature a raw, spontaneous graphic style. This is accompanied by an irreverent attitude and a D.I.Y. Punk influenced approach to production. It is notably different from mainstream approaches to comics production. These alternative comics can be pluralistic, wide-ranging, antagonistic, mocking and containing taboo themes. The exhibition in Orange celebrated the creative expression behind these comics. Comics art…this much maligned art form…usually consigned to the pop culture trash bin…was hung for exhibition on the gallery wall.

_{Back cover of the exhibition catalogue. (Design by Glenn Smith)}

Creators featured in the exhibition, all 27 of them, are listed on the back cover of the exhibition catalogue, above. They exhibited applications of comics art in a range of mediums from pen and ink to digital imaging. These were applied in animation, painting, posters, book covers and skate boards.

Display of Anton Emdin comics in the exhibition. — _{Exhibit of Cruel World minicomics by Anton Emdin.}

Display of Black Light Angels minicomics by Louise Graber in the exhibition. — _{Exhibit of Black Light Angels minicomics by Louise Graber.}

Noting the emergence of underground comix in Australia in his book Panel By Panel…John Ryan pointed to the social context of the 1970’s. This was a period in which a sense of national pride emerged. This led to a consequent interest in locally made art. That first wave of Australian alternative comics also seems to have been influenced by the North American Underground Comix movement. As in the Abstract Expressionist art movement of the 1950s, Australia seemed to have imported rather than grown, the art. Initially appearing somewhat derivative an Australian style later developed .

Louise Graber with a painting of a panel from her comic Black Light Angels in the exhibition. — _{Louise Graber with her painting of a panel from her comic Black Light Angels from the exhibition.}

I had attended the Underground(s) conference on Comics and Graphic Novels at the University of Florida in 2003. It was organised by Donald Ault. At that conference I presented a research paper…titled “Down Under Ground: Emotional and Oppositional Outpourings from Sydney’s Subculture in the Comics of Glenn Smith”. Smith’s comics seemed to be an echo of the Underground comix of the late 1960s that began in San Francisco. They were different in style and content to the mainstream North American super-hero themed comics. They opened up the way for autobiographical and artform approaches. At that conference I heard from some of the creative figures from the original Underground(see back cover of program below). It was pleasing to describe Glenno’s work, and argue that it had some resonance with what they had done.

_{Front cover of Underground(s) conference program. (Design by William S. Kartalopoulos)}

_{Back cover of Underground(s) conference program. (Design by William S. Kartalopoulos)}

Underground(s) poster (detail). — _{Underground(s) conference poster (detail).}

Have you read any Underground comics? I’d love to hear your thoughts about them as well as reactions to this post.

This is the twelth in a series of posts titled Archives of Australian Comics History. They document moments in the recent history of Australian comics, particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s. It eventually led to the writing of my doctoral thesis. Details: Ph.D., Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, for the thesis…A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000…With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003. On completion of the research I donated the large number of comics I had collected…to the National Library of Australia: Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics: SAVAGE PENCILS

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics, Art, Comics May 30, 2012

Savage Pencils was an exhibition of contemporary Australian comics cover art that I curated at Silicon Pulp Animation Gallery, Sydney in 2001. It featured original art by Paul Abstruse, Ray Ahn, Gerard Ashworth, Anita Bacic, Xander Black, Neale Blanden, Anna Brown, Bronson Boyd, Susan Butcher, Bernard Caleo, Dakanavar, Tim Danko, Anton Emdin, Michael Fikaris, Edo Fuijkschot, Louise Graber, Ben Hutchings, Scott Johnson, Gregory Mackay, Alex Major, Kieran Mangan, Daniel McKeown, Chris Mikul, Alice Mrongovius, John Murphy, Dillon Naylor, Linzee R. Nold, Mandy Ord, Jason Paulos, Q-Ray, Kirrily Schell, Jan Scherpenhuizen, Shags, Bernie Slater, Glenn Smith, Cipta Tanamas, Dean Tarjavaara, Matt Taylor, Ross Tesoriero, Tolley, Ryan Vella, Kevin Whitfield, Colin Wilson and Carol Wood.

The invitation designed by Glenn Smith.

The exhibition catalogue contained the essays: “The Broken Pencils of Southeast Asia” by International Journal of Comic Art editor John A. Lent, “Why the Australian Small Press Make Eskimo Comics” by Tim Danko, and my own paper “Sick Puppies With Pencils”.

The Neale Blanden illustration was also used as the exhibition catalogue cover.

As a playful idea for the catalogue I asked the artists to draw a ‘savage pencil’. Here is a selection. All art is the copyright of the respective creators.

Colin Wilson

Butcher and Wood aka the Pox Girls.

Louise Graber

Ross Tesoriero

Alice Mrongovius

Linzee R. Nold

Shags

Chris Mikul

Matt Taylor

Ben Hutchings

Tolley

Bernard Caleo

Ryan Vella

Kirrily Schell

The notion of collecting comics art is a recent but growing trend in Australia. This exhibition offered 50 works ranging from the mainstream to the the avant-garde, from 44 artists representing every State of Australia except the Northern Territory. Some of the cover art was displayed on the gallery’s website.

Exhibition installation view. (Photo by Louise Graber)

The exhibition catalogue with cut-up Neale Blanden illo on the cover.

The title for the exhibition was taken from the alias of Edwin Pouncey, an English comics creator of the early 1980s whose ‘punk’ style of graphics proved inspirational to alternative cartoonists. This show celebrated drawing, a precious commodity in an age of appropriation and scanning, and the creative expression that drawing is given in comics. Here the drawing was both art and pop culture trash and very affordible.

Massive thanks to the people at Silicon Pulp! What they have done for local creators of comics art is immense! And to the artists, whether you exhibited, attended the exhibition or just read my blog post on it, I would love to hear your thoughts. This is the eighth in a series of posts called Archives of Australian Comics History that document moments in the recent history of Australian comics, particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s and it eventually led to my PhD thesis: Ph.D. Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000 With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003. On completion of the research I donated the materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia: Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics: INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF DRAWINGS-COMICS

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics, Art, Comics January 12, 2012

Thirteen years ago the 14th International Exhibition of Drawings opened at the Museum of Modern Art in Rijeka, Croatia. It ran from 17th December 1998-20th March 1999. It was devoted to comics. I had been invited to contribute to the curation of the show…based on the research into comics art that I was undertaking at the time… following a referral from Professor Joan Kerr of Australian National University…I selected and sent 13 works by 14 creators…I also wrote an essay The Australian Underground. It was published in the exhibition catalogue in both Croatian and English…here is a short extract:..”In its own small way the underground comics community not only contributes to the visual cultural life of Australia but also to an understanding of it. It adds to the ongoing critique of Australian culture and provides a healthy and relatively unregulated creative outlet. From its position on the margins its critical viewpoint is expressed with great humour. ‘Taking the piss out of things’ would seem an appropriate and very Australian way of describing it.” (extract) Dr. Michael Hill

_{Cover of the exhibition catalogue. Design by Mirko Ilić, drawing by Davor Vrankić}

_{The Comic Messiah by Q-Ray (Clint Cure), 1998, ink on paper.}

Other artists in this exhibition included: Max Andersson, Enki Bilal, Guido Crepax, Will Eisner, Jason(John Arne Sæterøy), Henry “Hank” Ketcham, Brant Parker, Hugo Pratt, Quino, Bryan Talbot, Mort Walker and Song Qing Zhu (Gao Diao). It was wonderful to see the work of emerging Australian creators displayed alongside these established international comics art creators. I’d love to hear your comments and comparisons of their graphic styles.

_{Black Light Angels by Louise Graber, 1998, ink on paper.}

_{Blackie’s last day by Tony Single, 1994, pencil, felt pen, ink on paper.}

_{Upward + Onward by Damien Woods, technical pen and felt pen on photocopy paper.}

_{Lightning Strike by Mandy Ord, 1998, ink on paper.}

_{Radiation Sickness by Ross Tesoriero, 1997, ink on paper.}

_{Ah-choo by Neale Blanden, 1997, combined technique on paper.}

_{Jean and Rolly by Timothy John Danko, 1995, collage on paper.}

_{Kurt Hurt’s Reasons to Draw Comix by Stuart Stratu, 1997, ink and whiteout on paper.}

_{Francis Bear by Gregory Mackay, 1998, ink on paper.}

_{Stranger Danger by Ryan Vella, 1997, ink on paper.}

Bernard Caleo and Tolley-The False Impressionists, 1997-combined technique on paper. — _{The False Impressionists by Bernard Caleo and Tolley, 1997, combined techniques on paper.}

_{The Killer Foetus by Ben Hutchings, 1997, combined technique on paper.}

It was most significant for my research into Australian comics art to be included in this international exhibition of drawings. In the meantime, I’m endeavouring to establish a minimum three week gap between posts. Perhaps I was a little too enthusiastic in my first year of blogging but I am working on improved scheduling. As always, I would love to hear your response to my posts. This post is the fifth in the series Archives of Australian Comics History…that document moments in the recent history of Australian comics… particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s and it eventually led to my PhD thesis: Ph.D. Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy… A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000 With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003. On completion of the research I donated the research materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia, titled the Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics